On Wednesday, November 23, 2022, a Texas tourist died after going down a rental pontoon boat slide head first and striking his head on the bottom at Crab Island.
Family members say the 63-year old victim went down into three to four feet of water around 3:35pm on Wednesday, but then didn’t resurface. They jumped in to try to save him, along with receiving aid from from the Coast Guard, Okaloosa Island and Destin firefighters, as well as EMS.
- According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the victim was transported to the HCA Fort Walton Beach – Destin Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
2 Responses
Maybe Okaloosa County should put up a big sign in the middle of Crab Island with pictures of all the people killed and paralyzed by hitting their heads on the bottom there, and maybe people will stop going into the water head first when anchored there !!
I like the sign idea but don’t put in on Crab Island. Put it on the inside of every pontoon boat. Why junk up the view and create another navigation hazard because of a few tragic misjudgments by individuals not familiar with our waters. Very sad.